


Here Comes Treble

by FelixMinou (clockworkgirl221)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Classical Music, M/M, Multi, Music Creation, Musical Instruments, Musicians, String Quartet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 16:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5935450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockworkgirl221/pseuds/FelixMinou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The City’s String Quartet needs two new members, and new manager Leia Organa-Solo finds them in local busker Rey and just-graduated Finn. </p><p>AKA the string quartet AU no one asked for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Are you Leia Organa, by any chance?”

Rey was turned away from him, and she guessed both she and the director for the famous City Quartet had the same basic hair color. Was the light making her hair a little lighter, though? She decided to turn around anyway, and the dark-skinned male (Finn Duqar, her mind supplied after a time) let out a sharp breath, “No, no, you’re that violinist, Rey--”

“Jakku, yes. And you’re Finn Duqar,” Rey replied as politely as she could. “I guess you got the cellist gig.”

“And you first violin. Good job,” Finn replied with a smile.

Rey smiled back.

“Oh good, you’re both here,” said a new voice.

Leia Organa-Solo, one half of the director/manager duo, was walking toward them. “Well come on, then. Ben--sorry-- _Kylo_ and Poe are already in the practice rooms waiting for you.”

“Where’s Han?” Rey asked. He had been at there auditions, after all. Rey might have taken a liking to him.

“Working with advertising,” Leia replied with a sigh. “Hopefully some new blood in the Quartet will get some new blood into our audience, but only if we advertise through the roof.”

She lead the two new members of the City String Quartet through the doors into the soundproof room beyond, where two men were already sitting, one slouched with a scowl, and one who perked right up when he saw the two new members behind their director.

They had all met before, of course. All musicians were either straight out of the City Music Academy, or had been alumni for a long time. But they had also met at auditions, playing with each other to get a feel of how well they would work together. Poe Dameron, the violist, had taken a liking to both Finn and Rey, and had worked well with them both. Kylo Ren, the other violinist, had worked well with the two as well, but was too stubborn to say anything. It was mostly Poe who vouched for the two newbies.

Finn had just graduated from the Academy with full honors in Composition, but he was also a damn good cellist. Rey had graduated from the Academy a few years before Finn, and had been busking on the streets for cash to pay her meager rent and food bills. She lived mostly off of the money her mother had left her, but it was soon running out.

“Well, let’s start the practice then,” Leia said, clapping her hands together. “Fugue or No. 12, then?”

Rey and Finn grabbed their music and began setting up their area and instruments, ready for whatever the other two would pick.

“We were going to go Bach for the first performance after Granddad left,” Kylo said, glaring at Poe.

Poe shrugged, “Well then, might as well get some practice in too, _Ben_.”

“It’s _Kylo_ ,” Kylo replied lowly, through his teeth.

“Now, now, boys,” Leia said, and gestured for the four of them to start.

As before, they played well together. Brilliantly, in fact. Kylo and Rey often looked to one another for cues in and out of the song group. Finn kept them together with the baseline. Poe brought some extra tones. It was as a Quartet should play: perfectly pieced together to make a beautiful whole. Leia wiped tears from her eyes as she stopped them for the day.

“I think we all made good choices bringing you two in,” she said, proudly looking from Finn to Rey.

\--

“Pub Takodana, anyone?” Poe asked. “I think this calls for a celebration.”

Pub Takodana was only a few blocks away from the Quartet’s practice rooms. So they all walked there.

“Looks like rain,” Poe said casually, looking up at the sky.

Han and a friend of his, one Chester Bacca, were already there.

“All done in advertising?” Leia asked, sitting across from them. Rey, Poe, Kylo, and Finn sat up at the bar to order their drinks.

Kylo and Rey weren’t much talkers, so Finn and Poe carried the conversation, talking about everything from the Academy to their childhoods. Poe mentioned he had a cat, and Rey finally entered the conversation. “I love cats,” she said with a fond smile. “My mom and I would foster kittens for the animal shelter.”

Finn left the two to discuss animal rescue, which then morphed into something about mechanics and piloting. Finn went to sit in the empty spot across from Leia, next to Chewie.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Duqar?” Leia asked.

“I wanted to discuss the music choices of the Quartet.”

Leia raised her eyebrow, looking to her husband and coworker before turning back to him. “Go on.”

“Well,” Finn swallowed thickly. “You’ve always played the classics, and that’s good! That’s great! But… you want to get some younger audience members, right?”

Leia prompted him to go on silently. He swallowed again. “Um. I graduated with a degree in Composition, but I’m, uh, really good at doing arrangements, particularly, um, string quartet versions of popular songs. I have, uh, arranged some Taylor Swift and some Beatles stuff to fit two violins, a viola, and a cello, so a, uh, string quartet. I think playing some new stuff will help you get some younger people in the audience…”

Leia sat back in her chair, thinking. She looked to Chewie, “It’ll mean new posters.”

Chewie rolled his eyes, but Han was waving his finger, the wheel in his head turning, “No, the kid’s right. And hang the advertising. You’ve wanted the younger generation to be interested in the Quartet again for a while now, Leia. This kid here has a great plan.”

Leia smiled at her husband, “All right,” she said. “Bring some of your arrangements tomorrow, Finn. We’ll try them, and we’ll perform a couple next week at your first show. Then, depending on the numbers of youth patrons to our older patrons, we’ll start actually slipping more modern popular arrangements in.”

“She’s desperate for new blood,” Han fake-whispered the cellist fondly. She glared at him, eliciting a fond laugh from him.

“Absolutely not,” came another voice.

Kylo Ren was standing a few feet from their table, his hands in his coat pockets. “Granddad left the Quartet to you guys. I was fine when we needed new players, but this I cannot allow.”

Han stood up, “Ben, you are not in charge here--”

“Yes, but I am the only one here who knows Granddad’s wishes. He loved the work the Quartet was doing. We were bringing classical works to life in this sad excuse of a diverse city!” Kylo yelled. “And now you want to throw that all away?”

“We would still do classical works, honey,” Leia said softly, but Kylo cut her off.

“Granddad hated new popular music! He wanted nothing to do with it! The classical stuff is better than the trash coming out these days! It’s more… pure! Why throw that away?”

“Hux would have done it,” Han muttered under his breath.

Kylo had had a enough. He seethed for a moment. “Fine. If you want to throw away all of Granddad’s hard work, then fine. Fine.”

“We’re only trying it,” Leia said. “If it doesn’t work, then we’re back to pure classical works.”

Kylo nodded, a thousand curses flashing on his face, “Okay.” And then he stormed off.

“I wish that kid would go see a therapist for that anger,” Han said. “He gets it from your side of the family.”

Leia breathed deeply, and then smiled at Finn. “Bring those arrangements tomorrow, please.”

“Yes ma’am.”

They parted ways soon afterwards. Rey was about to go catch a bus to her home, but Leia and Han were going the same way, and offered her a ride. She took the offer after a long time thinking about it. When they opened the door, it was windy and pouring. Finn sighed.

“Great. I’ve got to walk home in that. And I didn’t bring a jacket.”

Poe looked askance at him, “Oh. Oh no you don’t.”

Finn looked back at him. “Well, how else am I gonna get home?”

Poe put his hands in his jacket pockets and demured, “I could… I could take you home.”

Finn stared at him for a moment: his dark hair and eyes, his shy smile as he looked everywhere but at Finn’s face. _God help me_.

“Sure,” he said. “But it’s still wet out there, so I’m still gonna get soaked.”

Poe, excitedly, removed his jacket, handing it to the cellist with a big grin. “Better you than me,” he said. “I’m wearing thermals.”

“Of course you are,” Finn replied, gingerly taking the jacket from him. He threw it over his shoulders, wearing it more like a cape than a jacket.

They both walked out into the wind and pouring rain, and practically ran to Poe’s car, which was parked in the tiny parking lot allotted to the Quartet members during the week. Poe and Finn were still soaked as they climbed into the small Jeep structure. Poe was laughing as he turned on the heat as high as it would go.

“Alright, this might still be a bad idea,” Poe said. “But you would be worse off walking home in this downpour by yourself.”

“My hero,” Finn sniped back.

Poe laughed again, and Finn couldn’t help but flush. He wanted Poe to laugh more and more, and all because of him.

_God help me._

They reached Finn’s block of apartments, and Finn glanced up the path to the doors, grimacing. “I don’t want to make that, not in as thin a t-shirt as I’m wearing.”

“Should’ve packed for the weather,” Poe replied with a smile.

Finn grinned back, “Four years in the City, and I am still not used to the bipolar weather conditions.”

“You’re not a native?” Poe asked, leaning back against the plush seat.

Finn shook his head. “I was in foster care for the longest time. I was picked up in middle school, but my final foster home was far from here. The City’s Music Academy is the best in the country though.”

Poe nodded, “That it is. And I’ve been out of school now ten years, so have been living here longer than you. Kylo and Rey, probably, too, as green as they are… compared to me, anyway.”

Finn nodded, reaching for the door handle, “Anyway. I’ve got those arrangements to finalize before tomorrow,” he began slipping the jacket off his shoulders.

“Nope. Bring the jacket back to me tomorrow, okay?” Poe commanded.

Finn paused, gripping the front of the jacket in one hand. He looked to Poe, then smiled and nodded. “All right, Dameron.”

“Until tomorrow, Duqar.”  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't wait.

It was only a little windy outside. Finn dutifully checked the weather and was pleased to see that the wind would break later that afternoon, so he wouldn’t need to bring along both Poe’s jacket and one of his own. He had thrown Poe’s jacket into the dryer the night before, so any residual warmth was long gone. It still smelled like Poe, though.

Poe stood up when Finn entered the practice room, sweeping him into a hug. Finn made to take off the jacket, but Poe stopped him by clapping him on the shoulder. “No, I’ve changed my mind. Keep it. It suits you,” his stare went from Finn wearing his jacket, to Finn’s face, and then he sucked at his lip for a little while until Leia entered the room. The two were quick to jump apart and get to their seats. Kylo rolled his eyes, and Rey was giving them quick glances from over her music, grinning slightly to herself.

Finn rifled through his messenger bag until he found the arrangements he had promised. He handed parts to each of the other members, leaving the cello part to himself. He handed Leia one of his many master copies. She looked over the music briefly, before nodding at the others to start playing.

As usual, they worked very well together, with minor “tune-ups” from Finn as to how to play some of the parts. Poe was supposed to pick at the strings through most of the Taylor Swift song, but otherwise they all played pretty well through it. The second song was a classic Beatles’ song that even Kylo seemed to enjoy playing. They were all very good at sight-reading.

During a small break, Leia approached Finn.

“What you’ve done so far is brilliant,” she said. “I think you should bring in some more next week so we can vote on which ones to do for the concert series.”

Finn nodded, but after Leia left to speak to Han and Chewie, who had just popped in, he looked crestfallen.

“I just have these two,” he said dejectedly.

“Better get going on more,” Kylo sneered over his bottle of water.

Rey put her hand on Finn’s knee, “If you need some help I can offer up some of my free days to help you. I still busk on Tuesdays and Wednesdays… I’ve made up a lot of my own songs, and I play with arrangements to backdrop my own playing, so, I can totally help with the violin parts.”

Finn smiled at her, “Sure, thank you.”

“I’ll help too!” Poe offered. “I mean, I’m not so good at the composing, but I love trying to figure out how to do viola parts of my favorite songs.”

Finn smiled at his two coworkers fondly, “Yeah, thanks. The more the merrier, right. Hey Kylo, you want to help out as well?”

Kylo grimaced at him, “No thank you. I have better things to do.”

“Like buy more eyeliner?” Poe asked.

Kylo managed to duck out of a reply to that, though he had to stand up and go out into the hall instead, flashing Poe (and the others) a manicured middle finger as he left.

\--

They decided to meet up for dinner at Poe’s apartment that very night. Rey was happy for this because it meant she could have one more day of lasagna should she wish if she hadn’t the time to go grocery shopping. Finn liked this because he hated being alone. Maybe he needed a puppy or a kitten to keep him company, but he like human companionship even more.

Poe had come from a large extended family, and liked to host people at his place, so having his two coworkers over suited him just fine. Baby, his orange and white tabby, was kind of a attention whore, so she loved having the two Quartet members over as well because humans were suckers for cute animals.

The humans ate chimichangas, a Dameron family specialty, apparently. It was all so delicious, and Poe explained how cheap it was, that Rey asked for recipe, and Finn jotted it down so that he could just have it “just in case”.

“So what’s your favorite song, if you don’t mind me asking,” Rey asked of Poe as they ate. “I notice you have all those opera albums. Any of ‘em your favorite?”

“Oh, those were my parents. They were opera stars,” Poe replied. “We spoke French, Italian, German, English, and Spanish in my home.”

“Wow,” Finn replied.

“Is that why you speak French to Baby?” Rey asked.

Poe smiled demurely, “Yeah. And while I do love opera, please don’t make choose my favorite. I like a lot of them. Oh, wait. The first opera I ever saw my parents in was the Magic Flute. My mom played the Queen. She was fantastic.”

“How about something more recent?” Finn asked. “My favorite song right now is ‘Love They Say’ by Tegan and Sera.”

“Never heard of ‘em,” Poe replied. “I’m more of a Queen guy.”

Rey scoffed, “Even a classical musician should listen to the new stuff--the stuff after the year 2000. For research. My favorite song right now is ‘Your Bones’ from Of Monsters and Men.”

“Oh, I have heard of them,” Poe replied. “But I like that folksy sort of stuff.” He thought for a long moment, as Baby made her way through each of their pairs of legs. “Ok. I like Mumford & Sons. I haven’t heard any of their newer stuff, but I really like ‘The Cave.’”

Finn and Rey insisted on helping Poe clean up, so Rey walked the dishes, and Finn dried them and put them in the rack next to the sink. It was all very domestic, and Rey had to bite her lip from laughing.

After clean-up, they retired to the living room and sat around a small coffee table to work. Baby took up residence in Rey’s lap, her belly exposed for primo petting action.

“She’s such a sweetie-pie,” Rey cooed as she stroked Baby’s fur and scratched her under the chin. “Makes me miss Yoda and Kenobi…”

Baby moved from Rey to Poe to Finn as the three of them worked, the three listening to their all of their favorite songs and trying to get down the notes and the bass lines, figuring out where a second violin or a viola tune would go. So far, they had a few Queen songs as per Poe’s request. They were working on some Lady Gaga songs because Rey had brought them up as joke, but Finn started thinking too seriously about the arrangement, so the collaboration stopped being a joke.

“If we’re lucky,” Poe said, “we can do whole albums. Green Day’s American Idiot, anyone?”

“Let’s get through these first,” Rey said, patting Poe on the back fondly. “Remember, we still have to have a small selection to weave into our first concert.”

“And we have Kylo to contend with. Does he have any other interests besides classical?” Finn asked.

Poe rolled his eyes, “I only knew him in his childhood. Though, I seem to remember him being a Fallout Boy and Green Day fan. But then his grandfather came into the picture, and it was only classical music as far as Kylo’s eye could see.”

Rey sighed, “I mean, I get it. Classical music is amazing. But… I mean, I do dubstep in the background of my compositions, and I get crowds and crowds of young adults and teenagers dropping money into my case. You really have a great idea, Finn: making these new arrangements.”

Finn smiled at her, a faint blush on his dark cheeks. “Thanks, Rey.”

Rey noticed Poe’s face darken, and panicked inwardly.  _ No. No no no no no no NO. _ She cleared her throat. “Well, I have to go. Busy day tomorrow, both Quartet practice and busking at the Farmer’s Market.”

“You won’t have to do that come the first concert,” Poe told her.

“Yeah, but in the meantime,” Rey replied, grabbing her coat from Poe’s closet. “Got to make sure those dubstep backup tracks are in order for tomorrow morning.”

“When should we go see you play?” Finn asked.

“Not in the mornings,” Rey replied, already half-way through the door. “I get far more people in the evenings!”

“We’ll text you!” Poe called.

When the door slammed shut, there was complete silence.

And then Baby mewed, setting her bright eyes on Poe, who cooed at her in French and picked her up, cradling her in his strong arms.

Finn chuckled, “She loves her daddy.”

“She loves a lot of things,” Poe replied. “Attention more than anything.”

“Aw, you don’t really think that, do you?” Finn asked, fiddling with the zipper on his (Poe’s) jacket.

Poe grinned over at him. “I’ve lived with her longer than you.”

Finn had to look away from that smile. And Poe. “So, you knew Kylo?”

“Yeah,” Poe replied. “He was mostly that annoying little kid that would follow me around when my parents did anything with his. And I knew him as Ben. Freaky kid.”

“Anger management problems even back then?”

“Yeah. Or tantrums, as I liked to call them.”

Awkward silence.

“You like the opera, then?” Finn asked.

“Opera? I guess. Opera, classical, folk music. The oldies, as you kids would call them. The goodies, I would.” Poe laughed, “And you like…?”

“I love  _ music _ ,” Finn answered shyly. “Classical, rock and roll, opera, pop. All of it. Even country. It’s that universal language thing. Our ancestors sang and banged rocks together or whatever, and here we are today, singing our hearts out to ‘All You Need is Love’ or ‘Born This Way’.”

Poe stared at Finn for the longest time. So long, in fact, that Baby suddenly yowled and tore out of Poe’s arms and across the room into the hallway.

“Chatonne folle!” he shouted, then, straightening his clothes, asked, “You were a foster kid?”

“Yeah. Music was the only thing that stayed,” Finn replied. He cleared his throat. “Um. I should get home and I, uh, don’t have a car yet.”

Poe suddenly sat up straight on the edge of the couch they were seated on, “Right. Okay. Um, I can take you, of course.”

“Thanks.”

\--

Poe searched online for Tegan and Sera later that night, specifically the song Finn had mentioned. After listening to “[Love They Say](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha-lMhCtmRs)” all the way through, he sat back in his computer chair, waking up an indignant Baby, who had made her napping spot in between the back of the chair and Poe’s body.

“Holy shit,” he said, staring at the screen blankly, blushing. What did it mean that  _ that _ song was  _ Finn’s _ favorite?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn't tell: Baby = BB-8.


	3. Chapter 3

“Kylo Ren.”

Professor Snoke was such a slick bastard, and he knew it. But he was the only other person (besides Hux, who wasn’t talking to him--he had QUIT the Quartet because of Kylo anyway--and Phasma, who was off in Paris or Vienna or wherever the fuck she was at on her solo music tour, the lucky little bitch.

“Professor.”

“How are you doing, my boy?”

“Fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

“...”

“Something the matter?”

“...”

“The Quartet again?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me about it.”

“There are new members.”

“Because of the whole Hux blow-out. And… you said ‘members’?”

“Yeah. Maz got pregnant and wanted to focus on her kids. Twins, apparently.”

“Strong woman.”

“I guess.”

“But you’re already having issues with the both of them. The new members.”

“All of them.” Kylo let out a long breath. “The new cellist, Finn? He suggested to Mother that we should start doing arrangements of popular songs.”

“Smart. And I guess Leia liked the idea.”

“Infuriatingly,” Kylo replied through his teeth. “And it isn’t  _ smart _ ! It’s  _ stupid _ ! Grand--Anakin wanted to bring classical music to the masses! He broke off from the City Symphony because they were selling out to do soundtracks for movies and shit! If we start doing these arrangements then we’ll be selling out too!”

“Well, there aren’t many people coming to see you all play.”

“That doesn’t matter, at least we’re keeping classical music alive!”

“Is Leia thinking about totally switching over?”

Kylo paused, his face reddening considerably with rage, “No. I… I don’t think so.”

Kylo could feel the old man smiling through the air waves. “Well, that’s certainly  _ something _ ,” Snoke replied smoothly.

Kylo hated him. He had been Kylo’s advisor, sure, and had guided him and trained him, hours and hours of scales and every single classic violin piece he could get his leathery hands on. But the way that he treated his students, treated  _ Kylo _ . He was manipulative, praying on Kylo’s anger and insecurity rather than ever  _ helping _ . And to what end? Probably just for fun, in all actuality.

“It’s the fact that she listened to Finn more than she listened to me. Sure, she said that we wouldn’t completely abandon the classics, but… And they all love Finn’s ideas, love  _ Finn _ .”

“Well, you remember what happened with that Hux boy. He had the same ideas, though he never had the guts to bring them up with your mother and father,” Snoke replied. “Oh, that’s right. You drove him to quit when he brought up trying  _ medleys _ .”

“That was too much like what the symphony was already doing,” Kylo said through his teeth. “Hux and I.... were never a good match.”

“Not from what I gathered when I figured out why you were late to so many of your early morning private lessons.”

“Shut up,” Kylo seethed.

“I think you’re just angry that you’re not getting any attention from Mom and Dad. Or is it because of your old pal Poe Dameron?”

“ _ Shut _ .  _ Up _ .” Kylo tried some breathing exercises he learned from the Internet. “I don’t want to play with people who  _ ruin _ the good work of someone I  _ care _ about!”

“Then quit the Quartet. You’ve burned the Symphony bridge, and you can now burn the Quartet bridge as well. No more running with sell-outs.”

“Quit?!” Kylo yelled into the phone. “I can’t just quit! Then Finn and the others will have won! I can’t let that happen! I can’t let all of Granddad’s hard work go to waste! And I’ll never… never play again...”

“That’s your problem. Which will you choose, Kylo? Only playing the classics, or being able to play your precious instrument? Quit while you can, Kylo Ren. They’re not worth your talent. Or would you rather busk in the streets like your first violinist? Only then would you be able to play whatever you wanted--”

Kylo hung up. And vowed never to speak to Snoke again.

He put his head in his hands for a moment, mulling over all that Snoke had said to him. Which did he love more? The classical music? Or his instrument?

He looked at a picture he had on his mantle of his grandfather and him: Kylo at his last performance as an Academy student, holding his violin proudly, Anakin Skywalker’s arm around his shoulders. Then he looked at his violin, still sitting in its case by his one armchair. He opened the case, taking the sleek instrument out, leaving the bow in the case. He held it up to the picture.

“At least you’ll never leave me,” he told the instrument, cradling it gently before placing it under his chin and taking out the bow. He stared at the picture for a long moment, before tipping the picture frame: his Music Academy self and his grandfather face-planted against the glass and ceramic. Kylo began to play, making up a tune to fit his strange, contemplative mood.

\--

Finn’s jaw had dropped.

“You have to come see this, man,” he said into his phone.

About a half-hour later, Poe met him at the fountain area of the local Farmer’s Market. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Not only could Rey Jakku play her violin, but [she could dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGCsyshUU-A), as well. And arrange some sick dubstep tunes, too. And she was right: there were young adults and teenagers at her performance, but also families with much younger kids. Rey played and danced: a combination of tap, ballet, and hip hop. Her coordination was beautiful, and the stories she could tell with her instrument and her body were imaginative, colorful,  _ brilliant _ .

Poe broke off of watching Rey to watching  _ Finn _ watching Rey. He couldn’t tell why he seemed disappointed that Rey was a musical  _ genius _ , but part of him loved Rey even more than he did the day before, when she had cut off Rylo’s rant about the purity of classical music for the umpteenth time, and part of him hated her for her brilliant mind, her brilliant body. Was it that she could dance and compose  _ and _ play the violin?

Finn must have felt Poe’s eyes on him, because he managed to peel his eyes away from the dancing violinist and look at Poe with a more brilliant smile than the one he just had watching Rey.

“That’s her, Poe,” Finn said excitedly, like a little boy or a puppy or a proud father, “That’s our girl!”

_ Our girl… _ Relief poured over Poe like fresh water on a hot day. But why?

Poe looked to Rey, who was just ending her song… her  _ story _ , and then at Finn, and laughed.

Rey smiled at her two coworkers. “Thank you guys! I’ve just spotted some friends, so I think I’ll cut this performance short!”

There was an onslaught of spare coins and bills to be put into her costume top hat before Poe and Finn approached her.

“You’re by far the most talented busker I’ve seen,” Finn gushed.

Rey blushed, “Uhm, thanks. See many buskers, then?”

“Not as many as I should,” Finn said, reaching for his wallet.

“Oh no you don’t,” Rey said, grabbing Finn’s wrist. 

She saw Poe had been reaching for his wallet too and gave him a warning stare. He stopped, putting his hands up in surrender. “Well how else are we going to reward you for blowing our minds?” he asked.

She thought for a moment, releasing Finn. “You can fight over who buys me my hot drink of choice.”

Poe won out by getting in line first, when Finn was in the bathroom, and buying them all something. He had seen Finn order before and had memorized what he liked. Rey whispered her choice of hot drink to him before he got into the line and she went off in search of a table. Finn, of course, was livid when he saw Poe waiting for their drinks to be ready.

“Next time, buddy,” Poe said, laughter in his eyes. “I’ll let you pay for us all next time.”

When he reached their table with their drinks, Finn and Rey were discussing composition.

“What was that last one called? I can totally see you doing [a music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrutzRWXkKs) or something with mermaids and a shadow puppet kraken,” Finn was saying.

She laughed. “The dubstep track is just called Waves. So you’re partly right about the mermaids and the kraken.”

“We could get some Dance Academy students in it, and some Theater tech kids,” Finn said. “They’d do that for credit, right? To put on their resumes?”

Rey put her hands around her cup (Vanilla Latte, two shots of espresso) and laughed, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What about the Quartet? I hear we get big money each week.”

Poe laughed, “Yep. Concerts every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Practice everyday, including a democratic election on Mondays of which songs we practice for that weekend’s concert series. Big ol’ check in the mail for you on Tuesday or Wednesday. You excited?”

Finn ducked his head, “I’m terrified,” he said. “At least of the performing aspect.”

“Why?” Poe asked. “You went to the Music Academy. Their final exams were final performances and grades based on how well your individual solo was. They still do that, right?”

Rey nodded, and Finn answered, “I’ve always gotten stage fright. Even in big groups like the Academy symphonic band. With just us four on stage… well, that’s just terrifying.”

Poe smiled, “You’ll do great. Some of those songs are your babies. You should be proud of them.”

Finn flashed a quick smile at him, and then at Rey, “How about you? You excited?”

“Yes,” Rey said, hugging her violin case as she sipped her latte. “It’s a new era for me. I won’t have to busk as much. Maybe I’ll just do it for fun or something, but… a steady paycheck, man. I haven’t been able to find something that would give me that since… since I was a newspaper person in fifth grade!” She smiled at her friends.

“Well,” Poe said, leaning back with his chai tea, “Seems like you’ll both need a hug after each performance anyway. And since Kylo is so wrapped up in his own shit, I’m just the guy to do it.”

The two newbies stared at him. He chuckled awkwardly, “What? I’m proud of you two!”

Finn and Rey looked to one another, Rey taking another sip of her drink, and Finn blushing behind his now empty cup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of Lindsey Stirling in this. And angsty Kylo. If you want to know what his song sounded like, check out Irene's Theme from the season 2 soundtrack of BBC's Sherlock. Otherwise, there are suggestions on how Rey's singing and dancing went in the actual text, if you didn't already figure that you you smart, smart reader-senpai.


	4. Chapter 4

Kylo wondered what songs would be pretty as quartet arrangements. He thought about it a lot, but never could wrap his head around it. Instead, he wrote his own arrangements, depending on how he felt, which was often angry, sometimes sad, always lost. He still listened to the classics, but found himself getting lost in soundtracks, the very same soundtracks that he had once abhorred and banned Hux from playing for him. Lyrical music still didn’t make any sense to Kylo, so he stuck to the instrumentals, and only for an hour or two every once in awhile.

He remembered liking movies for their soundtrack: _Pan’s Labyrinth_ , _The Lord of the Rings_ , _Amelie_.

He was lost in thought, picking at the string of his violin in the practice room one evening when Rey walked in on him, having the same idea to get a little more practice in herself.

“Oh,” she said, stopping dead in her tracks.

Kylo looked up at her, long fingers still picking at the song. “Hello, Ms. Jakku.”

She made to leave, “Nevermind. I’ll just practice at home.”

“And wake up your entire neighborhood? The walls must be thin in your building…”

Rey grimaced. Yes, all she could afford was poor housing. But after that Sunday, she would have her first paycheck, and could move up in the world if she wished. Finn had a pretty nice apartment in a pretty nice neighborhood that he paid with a trust fund, much like the inheritance Rey’s mother had left her with. She could move in with Finn if she wanted, or talk to his landlady about one of her many empty apartments…

“What do you want, Kylo Ren?” Rey asked, putting her free hand on her hip.

Kylo thought about this, laying his hands flat on the strings of his violin. “I… want to hear just the violins on Mr. Duqar’s version of ‘Stairway to Heaven’.”

Rey narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired male, then slowly sat down and began taking out her violin. She needed to practice, after all, and this was her only bit of free time she had. Who knew how long Kylo would be there, and there weren’t anymore rooms where she could practice in peace. “Fine.”

They played. Kylo was a fine violinist, though she wondered why he wasn’t first violin. She wondered a lot of things about her mysterious coworker. Why he was angry, why he was so obsessed with classical music. Why she had heard him trying to play the lullaby from _Pan’s Labyrinth_ a couple days ago when he thought no one else was listening (or would at least recognize the tune)…

...Why he didn’t seem to appreciate his parents working with him. They had talked nonstop about him when they had taken Rey home that first night. They loved him so much.

The two violinists took a break from their practice.

“You voted yes for ‘Stairway’ and ‘All You Need is Love’,” Rey said.

Kylo stared steadily at her. “Yes. I did.”

“You hate anything that comes after the Romantic period of music…”

Kylo looked away from her. “I haven’t always.”

It was Rey’s turn not to break her steady stare.

He sighed sharply. “Poe must have told you. I liked some more recent popular music in my youth. Alternative, stuff that’s often called punk or emo. I liked instrumental soundtracks too. I just… I wanted my granddad to notice me. And when he did I… I became…”

“A dick?” Rey asked calmly.

Kylo glared at her. “Yeah.”

“Han said you left home at fourteen and lived with Anakin when he took the job at the symphony. Before they started doing soundtracks to movies. Han also told me that you changed your name so you wouldn’t be associated with him.”

“Yeah, well Han says a lot of things. Often lies to make him feel better.”

“And Leia? Does she lie to make herself better too?”

Kylo looked up at the woman, who was now seething, her eyes narrowing into slits, tears in her eyes. He recoiled at the shock of it all.

“No, but she… she abandoned her own father. Turned away from his dreams. She just… just doesn’t care.”

“She saved his Quartet,” Rey replied. “Do you think you would still be here, that any of us would if it hadn’t been for her?”

“And now look what’s she’s doing!” Kylo yelled back, gesturing to his music stand. “Selling out. Like Han did with the symphony; like what Luke is doing right now to it!”

“Yeah, but at least you had parents,” Rey said softly, tears flowing freely down her face. “You look me in the eyes, Kylo Ren, and you tell me your parents never cared about you, were never _there_ for you. They never stopped talking about you, my first day. They might have been exasperated with you, but they were proud of your accomplishments, and loved to talk about them. They _love_ you.”

Kylo blinked back his own storm of tears, closing his eyes to get away from her, to get away from her intensity, her passion.

He remembered: A dark time time in his life, before the Quartet, before Snoke, after another lecture with his Granddad. He had been so panicked, so angry, so _weak_ that he had visited his mother in her office at her job (at the time) at the Opera. He had been scared for his future, about the words Anakin had said: “Classical music is pure. Everything else is not even worth mentioning.”

It hadn’t been pop music that killed Padme Skywalker: that had been a brain tumor.

He had cried in his mother’s arms that night. She had petted his hair, soothing him as she had done when he was a child and scared of monsters under the bed, in the closet.

And even after Kylo had changed his name, deleted all his music except for the classical off of his computer, and devoted himself to bring the classics back to life, his mother and father had taken over the Quartet mostly for _him_ . And not just because Anakin begged them to do it. _Because it would make Kylo happy to play for the Quartet._

He opened his eyes. And then he left the girl there, in the practice room, taking his violin with him. He was still crying when he got back to his apartment.

\--

Kylo and Rey, though still working well together during, were chilly with one another in between songs at practice. Rey was happy when practice finally ended, and was especially happy when Poe asked if he could treat them all to dinner.

“We might as well celebrate the last practice before the first performance,” he said. “Kylo, you coming?”

Kylo glowered at his co-workers, and shook his head no.

Poe shrugged, but turned his attention back on Rey and Finn, who were about ready to leave the practice building.

The restaurant they decided on was in a residential area, somewhere in the suburbs nearest to Poe’s apartments complex. They mostly served burgers and fries, along with plenty of beer and wine, though the three stuck to soda, water, and in Poe’s case, tea.

“So what was up with you and Kylo today?” Finn asked. “I mean, you two aren’t all buddy-buddy or anything, but you could cut the tension today with a butter knife.”

Rey shrugged, “We met up yesterday at the same time to practice last night. After practicing civilly with each other… we got to talking about his parents.”

Poe rolled his eyes, “Oh. That old blister.”

“What happened between him and his parents?” Rey asked him.

Poe shrugged his shoulders, “Besides Anakin Skywalker? I don’t even remember. I think Anakin caught him when he was most vulnerable.”

“So, middle school?” Finn asked.

Poe grinned, “Yeah. Kylo was always an intense kid. Apparently, Anakin was an intense adult.”

“Match made in hell,” Rey commented darkly.

“Yeah, well. Anakin’s gone now. Disappeared after the death of his wife,” Poe replied, shrugging.

“So,” Poe said, turning his attention to Finn, “When we bring in all those youth this weekend, which songs are you going to arrange next?”

Finn thought for a moment, “Some Queen, or course.”

“Good man,” Poe laughed.

Finn smiled back, “Then I don’t know. I want to see how popular our new arrangements get before we do whole albums. I mean… I do want to remember and honor the classics. Kylo’s right in that regard. We can rein ‘em in with these hip arrangements, but we should help them discover the classics too.”

Poe nodded, “Yeah, that’s a good plan.”

“The best,” Rey replied with a small smile.

Their food came, and they ate ravenously, focusing completely on their meals. Once they were all done, they all leaned back, breathless. They laughed when they saw each other’s sated expressions.

“Oh, by the way. Do you two have the uniform down?” Poe asked. “Tuxedos for the men, and something black and formal for the lady,” he bowed slightly to Rey, who bit her lip to keep from laughing at him.

“I have the dress I wore for symphonic band back in the day,” she said, winking at them both, “I’ll knock you all dead.”

“I look forward to that,” Poe said with a deep chuckle.

Finn watched their exchange, his stomach sinking slightly. Then, “I bet you clean up, Dameron.”

Poe looked at himself. He was wearing a tight olive polo and jeans, a pair of red Converse shoes on his feet. “Aw, come on, I don’t usually look too shabby, do I?”

Finn’s breath caught and he turned away, “Naw. But every person looks hot in a suit.”

Poe stared at Finn, a glint in his eye and a handsome smile on his face. He chewed his lip before saying, “I can’t wait to see how you’ll look, then.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m going home,” she said, grabbing her bag and violin case. “I want to get all the sleep I can.”

She stood up, but before she could leave the two men alone, Finn was up in a flash. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“I’m gonna call a taxi.”

“Then I’ll wait for your taxi with you.”

Poe made to stand up, “I’ll wait with you guys.”

“No,” Finn said quickly. Poe slowly sunk back into his seat, a concerned look on his face at Finn’s shaky (yet commanding) tone.

Rey looked between them. She had a feeling Finn wanted to talk to her alone. About _Poe_.

“I’ll, um, be right back in,” Finn said. “You’re my… um… ride.”

Poe nodded kindly. If Finn wanted to talk to Rey, then it was something important, between the two of them.

He wondered briefly _why_ Finn wanted to speak to the first violinist alone, but didn’t want to pry. It was Finn’s life, after all. He probably had a good reason to. Probably.

Finn and Rey left Poe in the restaurant. Rey paid for her portion, and then made a call to the taxi company. Finn patiently waited for Rey to hang up. They stood together at the curb. It was a mild night, so they both wore mild jackets (and in Finn’s case, he wore Poe’s jacket).

“He’s nice to everyone. Kind. He makes everyone feel good about themselves, or just makes them feel good.”

“Poe? He’s easy to be around, yeah,” Rey said, waiting for Finn to tell her what was wrong: why they had left Poe in the restaurant.

“So I just don’t know… He gave me his jacket, Rey,” Finn said, tugging at the sleeves of the garment in question. “And when I think he’s flirting with me, he turns around and puts that charm on _everyone he meets and knows_ . You. Han Solo. Leia Organa-Solo. _Mr. Bacca_. I mean… no one is immune.”

“You’re not immune either, Finn,” Rey said, nudging him slightly.

“Yeah. But I’m selfish. I want him all to myself,” Finn said, slumping into one of the wooden pillars that kept the restaurant’s porch up.

Rey crooked her head at him, and then slipped an arm around his waist, pulling him toward her. She kissed his forehead. “Have patience, Finn. Have patience, be yourself, and he’ll come around. If not, I’ll punch him in the face myself.”

“How about not his face?” Finn said. “It’s a very pretty face. Maybe the stomach.”

“How about I kick him the balls, then?” Rey asked.

Finn laughed, “Yeah. Okay.”

Rey saw a taxi put it’s blinkers on, and stood up to meet it. “Better go check to see if Poe’s all right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Finn said, standing up straight. “We gotta knock ‘em dead tomorrow!”

Rey smiled at him, “We will,” she said, before getting in the back of the taxi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help me my life has been overrun with ideas for TFA-based AUs. (Tumblr: petitminou-kun)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, guys!
> 
> Enjoy some weird fluff... and try to ignore Kylo Ren. Or give him a hug. He needs one.

Rey was resplendent in her beautiful little number with a grey bodice and a flowing black skirt that reached just above her knees. As it was cold, she wore black tights underneath them, and the sleeves were already three-quarter. She wore a black fur coat and left it in her chair in the green room. All of the men cleaned up as well, wearing their tuxedos with black bowties tied around their necks.

Finn had brought his bow tie to the performance instead of actually wearing it. He first handed the piece of black silk to Rey, who shook her head, “Oh no. No no. I don’t know how to tie one of these.”

Finn looked then to Kylo, who rolled his eyes and got to work chalking up his bow. Finally, Finn’s eyes turned to Poe, who was smiling a confident smile, who only put out his hand for the tie.

Finn looked at Poe’s Adam’s apple as the other popped Finn’s collar, buttoning the top button as he put the black silk around Finn’s neck.

“Let me know when it get’s too tight,” Poe said as he began tying.

Finn’s throat was already tight, but he knew Poe meant the actual tie getting too tight and said nothing. Poe was gentle, and stood much too close to Finn. The cellist’s heart raced, and as soon as Poe was done tying the tie Finn stepped away, moving to take his cello from it’s case.

Despite Finn’s initial nervousness about the concert itself, the entire Quartet all did really well for their first performance. Kylo and Poe, as Quartet veterans, carried the other two into the first initial songs, and as the momentum increased, Rey and Finn managed to find their own voices, to carry their own tunes better and better.

Carl Po, Leia’s PA, gave Leia the best news in the green room after the Friday performance, “Half of our ticket sales and donations were from people under 25, or people over 45 who had younger children!” he said, hardly stuttering this time.

Rey was the first to hug Finn, and they were wrapped around each other for so long that Chester Bacca and Poe had to wrap their arms around the both of them to celebrate.

Saturday and Sunday’s performances were much the same, though Finn was much more confident in himself and his playing. Poe radiated pride in all of them, even in Kylo Ren. He was mostly proud of the two newbies, though he was proud of his childhood friend too, for getting the stick out of his ass long enough to play through a rendition of “Fireflies” and a little later, “Time After Time.” Sunday they did “Somebody to Love,” and “Stairway to Heaven” again. Leia couldn’t stop smiling when they entered the green room after the concert ended. Han smiled because Leia smiled. Chester and Carl smiled because the energy in that room was so positive.

“Well, it was a hit. We’ll practice the others you’ve got, but you should definitely create some more, just in case,” Leia told Finn before he made his way home.

“You did very well,” Poe said when he dropped Finn off at his house first. “The both of you,” he said this to Rey, who was in the backseat of his car, waiting for her turn to be dropped home.

“Thanks, Poe. Good night!” Finn called, waving to them both.

Rey only waved him off, too exhausted to say much else.

Finn entered his one bedroom apartment, turning on the lights in the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. He wasn’t planning on going to bed yet, as he had too much adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream. So he decided to work on a few more songs.

He remembered Kylo Ren barely perking up when he mentioned wanting to try a few songs from Green Day and Panic At the Disco. So he put on his headphones and listened to a few choice songs before writing out the music. He always started with the cello music, since he was so in tune with his own instrument. He fell asleep a few hours later, trying to figure out the second violin.

\--

He was late to practice Monday morning. Nearly an hour late.

“I’m sorry!” he said, bursting in. “I forgot to set my alarm last night! And I… I only have the cello part of ‘Extraordinary Girl’!”

Kylo Ren stood up, his chair making a horrid noise on the linoleum floor. “Ugh!” he shouted, just as Rey and Poe were about to tell Finn it was all right. “Unbelievable!”

“What, Kylo Ren?” Poe growled resisting the urge to put his whole body in front of the cellist for protection.

“Late to practice?” Kylo huffed, trying not to raise his voice. “He has no respect for this Quartet! First he comes in with these new ideas for arrangements the Quartet doesn’t need, and now he’s late to practice. Partying too hard last night?”

“His arrangements saved this Quartet,” Poe hissed, his hands balling into fists. “Or did you not hear Mr. Po’s statistics after every fucking concert this weekend?”

Kylo tried his breathing exercise, but decided a civil conversation wasn’t worth it. “This Quartet has gone down in quality. So what if there are more youth attending concerts? We were fine with the older people!”

“Yes, but people die, and what patrons we had left will _someday_ ,” Poe pointed out. “Now younger people will have better appreciation for the classics as well as the new arrangements. Finn is a genius. What have you done for the Quartet recently,  _ Ben Solo _ ? Made Hux so fed up he fucking  _ quit _ ?!”

Kylo stamped his foot, and Han was suddenly at his shoulder, he and his wife having just entered the room to the scene that was unfolding.

“Come on, Ben,” Han said softly to his son. “Let’s go out in the hall: cool down a little bit.”

Han gave a slight nod to his wife as he and Kylo exited the room. Once out in the hallway, Han sat down on one of the benches, and Kylo leaned against the wall, his arms folded.

“You aren’t a child anymore, Ben.”

Kylo ignored him.

“You can’t just have a tantrum every time you don’t get what you want.”

“Finn was late,” Kylo bit out.

“And this is only his first offense,” Han replied sternly. If Kylo wanted to act like a child, Han would treat him as one.

But Han had a point. Kylo hated it.

“Do you understand why we took Finn’s advice on the newer arrangements?” Han asked slowly, searching his son’s face.

Kylo glared at him, “To make more money?”

“To bring in the younger generation,” Han replied. “Though the extra donations and ticket sales does help. How else do you think you get paid for what you love to do?”

Kylo huffed, trying to make himself smaller against the wall.

“I know you love your grandfather, Ben,” Han said.

“It’s Kylo.”

“Kylo… Anakin is gone. He put the Quartet in Leia’s very capable hands, and she is allowed to do what she thinks is best. Especially when your boyfriend--”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“--left and Maz got pregnant. Without four players, how else would we have a Quartet?”

“It’s not about Rey and Finn,” Kylo said.

“But Finn brought the arrangements. And Rey and Poe love them.”

Kylo scoffed. “Yeah, everyone loves Finn and his stupid arrangements.”

“This is no time for your petty jealousies--”

“Jealousies?!” Kylo hissed. “You think I’m jealous of Finn? I am a better player than him by far! I went under the personal tutelage of not only Anakin Skywalker, the best violinist in the world, but also Professor Andrew S. Snoke! I am angry at Finn for bringing in the swill he calls music! It’s a travesty!”

“Three against one, my boy,” Han replied. “And Leia, Chester, and I as well. We like the arrangements, and we also like the classical. With the arrangements bringing in the new generations, we can still feed them the classics as well. This new paradigm is not all bad…”

Kylo bellowed, stamping his foot and punching the wall behind him as he spun around. He said nothing more as he shoved his father’s shoulder and made his way out of the building.

\--

Practice was canceled. 

Finn was tired. 

But he had to get to work on the new arrangements. He was looking over it with that look in his eye that he got when he was concentrating hard on a thought or a melody, when the papers were lifted out of his hands.

“Go home Finn,” Poe said gently, kneeling in front of the chair Finn was slumped in.

In the corner, Leia and Han were discussing something--their son, perhaps. Rey was standing behind Finn. Kylo was gone. He even left his violin, which Leia was holding in her hands as she spoke in low tones with her husband.

“But… the arrangements!” Finn said, though a yawn betrayed him.

Poe looked over the work. “You’ve got the cello down, and a few notes for the second violin. So let a violist and a violinist finish this one up for you.”

Rey circled Finn’s chair so that she was standing next to Poe in front of the cellist. She looked over the music and smiled, “After you take a very long nap, we’ll head over to your place and we can get to work on another arrangement so you have two for tomorrow, instead of just one.”

Finn nodded, “Yeah. Okay, yeah…”

Poe helped him up while Rey closed his cello case. She took Poe’s viola from him so Poe could take Finn’s cello. 

“We’ll take you home first,” the violist said.

Once Finn was situated back in his bed at home, Poe and Rey made their way to Poe’s apartment. Poe made them some coffee while Rey pet Baby and even brushed her long fur with a fine-toothed silver comb. Then they got to work.

When “Extraordinary Girl” was almost all marked out, Rey stopped the song on Poe’s mp3 player. “I’m getting sick of listening to this song,” she said, picking up Baby from the floor in between her feet and giving the cat a slight squeeze. “I wonder if this is how Finn feels after arranging these things.”

“Poor guy,” Poe said. “All he wanted was to have another arrangement done today and Kylo goes off on him like that.”

“Kylo’s a jerk,” Rey grumbled. “He doesn’t appreciate what he has.”

“He has his head buried in the sands of his glorious past, or whatever,” Poe replied, nodding. “But Finn doesn’t deserve any of Kylo’s pent up anger. I just want to punch Kylo back into this day and age. Anakin’s gone. Leia owns and manages the Quartet, now, and she is doing it just fine. Better, I think, than Anakin did.”

“She cares about the Quartet because her son loves playing music,” Rey said softly. “He just… doesn’t understand that what he has is amazing, and that not everyone has what he has… Not Finn, not me…”

“Me neither,” Poe replied, leaning forward over his elbows on his knees. “Mom and Dad died when I was eighteen. Muggings gone wrong.”

“You’re Batman then?” Rey teased.

“Except without the wealth and without the mask,” Poe replied with a grin.

Rey sighed, “I had a mother all the way up until I started the Academy. She died of breast cancer. She left some money but… not enough to keep me afloat for very long after all those hospital bills. Dad left us both when we were small. Don’t care about him now.”

“And Finn,” Poe sighed. Rey passed Baby over to him. “He was a foster kid who could never keep a home, apparently.”

Rey nodded. “It was really sweet of you to volunteer to finish this arrangement.”

“You were thinking of doing it too, Jakku,” Poe replied, giving her a stern stare.

She shrugged, “Not really. And the way you tried to protect Finn from Kylo? I just… I don’t usually think of those things. You’re a good man, Poe Dameron.”

Poe turned from her. “Finn’s the good man.”

Rey smiled. “Yeah. He is saving the Quartet.”

“He’s saving all of us,” Poe murmured, and Rey could see the slight blush dusting his tanned cheeks.

“He's attractive too,” Rey replied, though Poe couldn’t see her eyebrow raise knowingly.

Rey’s phone buzzed after a few moments of silence. Rey had been staring at Poe, a soft smile on her face. Poe had been vehemently not looking at her, instead holding Baby and stroking her as she purred happily. 

Rey checked the screen of her phone.

“Finn’s awake,” she said. “We should get over there.”

“Yeah,” Poe replied, placing Baby gently on the couch next to him. “Let’s go.”


	6. Chapter 6

Leia decided that they wouldn’t have practice on Thursdays.

“Because you deserve a day off. We’ll be moving the practice to Friday mornings instead, so you all can be extra fresh for the Friday evening performance. And, as always, pretend the Saturday and Sunday matinees are also a form of practice.”

Poe was grinning as he rubbed his hands together. 

“You look like a cartoon villain,” Rey told him, giving him a pointed look.

He laughed. They were waiting for Finn to return from the bathroom. “What are you up to tomorrow, since we now have it off?”

Rey shrugged, “I was thinking of unofficially busking at the University. You know, pick up some pretty young thing, make some extra cash, have a little fun. You?”

“I’m thinking of showing Finn my baby,” Poe replied.

“He’s met your cat,” Rey replied. “Everyone loves her. Except Kylo Ren. Maybe. Probably.”

“Even the most evil person in all the land loves Baby,” Poe said with a quick grin. “But I meant my other baby.”

Rey raised an eyebrow at him, “How many secret cats do you have, Poe Dameron?”

“It’s not a cat!” Poe laughed. “It’s a plane.”

“You’re a pilot?” Rey asked.

“It’s a small charter plane,” Poe replied. “My dad was a pilot before he went into the Opera. Met my mom on a flight to Venice. They became penpals, and then she returned to the City and they started officially dating. I wanted to be a pilot before I decided music was my true passion,” Poe explained, “But every time things get rough, I go to the airfield, flash them my pilot’s license, and take my baby into the air.”

“How could you afford her?” Rey asked.

“Like I said, I wanted to be a pilot before I wanted to be a musician,” Poe said, “My mom and dad gifted me with a plane. Paid it all off about a month before they died.”

“Wow,” Rey said. “I loved planes when I was a kid. I wanted to be an airplane, though, not a pilot. And then I picked up the violin when I was 6 and never went back. Still like to do a bit of plane-spotting now and again.”

“I should take you up instead of Finn,” Poe said.

Rey saw the man in question appear down the hallway. “Nah. I’ve got a date with my violin tomorrow. You and Finn have fun.”

“Have fun doing what?” Finn asked, finally entering the conversation.

Rey gave a pointed look at Poe, pushing him into the spotlight.

“Since we have the day off,” Poe said, turning to the cellist with a fond gleam in his eye, “and Rey here would rather dance around playing the violin for University students, I was wondering if you would like to go up in my plane…”

“You have a plane?!” Finn asked, his face full of surprised delight. “Holy shit, yes! Let’s do it!”

Poe laughed, “How about I meet you at your place at 1?”

“Great!” Finn replied.

Rey just shook her head, smiling at her two idiots fondly.

\--

“Rey I’ve got to tell him.”

Rey blinked as she held her phone to her ear. “Hello to you too, Finn.” She took the frying pan from the flames and scraped the eggs onto a plate, grabbing her warmed tortilla from the microwave. “And to what do I owe the pleasure?”

She could hear him rolling his eyes on the other end. “I have to tell him.”

“Tell who, Peanut?”

Finn made a very high noise in the back of his throat. After a few moments of deep breathing (and evil, unseen grinning from Rey) he said, “I need to tell Poe I love him.”

“Ah, so it’s love now?”

“It’s very damn near close to it,” he replied.

Rey raised her eyebrows. “Sounds serious.”

“It is. Rey, I’ve never felt this way about anyone,” Finn breathed.

Rey switched the phone to the other shoulder as she sat down at her lonely kitchen counter to eat her food. “I thought dating your coworker was generally frowned upon.”

“Han and Leia work together.”

“Yeah, but apparently Hux and Kylo were a thing, and Kylo actually made Hux quit when they broke up,” Rey pointed out.

“Oh.”

Rey heard the disappointment in Finn’s monosyllabic word and panicked inwardly, “I mean, you two aren’t going to break up ever… if you’re so in love with him. Totally look up to Han and Leia, and forget Kylo Ren and his extra baggage don’t exist.”

“Oh, but it’ll be weird, because he probably doesn’t even like me… I mean, he’s not in love with me back…” Finn said.

Rey was such an idiot. “No, no Finn. I’m sure if you just tell him you’ll be pleasantly surprised!”

Finn was silent on the other end for such a long time that Rey wondered if he had hung up on her. Before she could actually check the connection he said, “Well, I’ve got to at least tell him how I feel. Only when I know how  _ he _ feels will I know if I have to quit and, I don’t know, take your busking job at the Farmer’s Market.”

“You stay away from my fountain Finn Duqar,” Rey hissed.

He laughed. “So… I should tell Poe how I feel.”

“It can’t hurt,” Rey said.

“Oh.... well it  _ can, _ actually… It can hurt  _ a lot _ , but… I get what you’re trying to say,” Finn replied.

“Think positively, Finn. Anything can be. You don’t  _ know _ how he feels…” Rey told him. “Not until you’ve actually asked. And while you’re at it, you might as well tell him how  _ you  _ feel.”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “Yeah! You’re right!”

“I’m alway right, Finn.”

\--

Poe picked Finn up and they drove a little bit outside of the City to get to the airfield. Poe let him sit in the cockpit with him, as long as he didn’t touch anything important. The violist did a quick check around the airplane before contacting the hangar. “Just taking up a friend to see the City from the air,” he told the air control guy.

“Have fun,” said the intercom back.

Poe turned off the intercom and grinned at Finn. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah!” Finn said exuberantly. He swallowed back anything more he wanted to say. He had no idea when to tell Poe what he wanted to tell him, but he knew takeoff and landing were probably never good times to do anything besides let the pilot focus.

They taxi’d out of the hangar and onto the tarmac and soon enough they were up in the air.

“So, where do you want to go?” Poe asked. “London? Paris? Vienna?”

Finn laughed, “Oh, someday, all three. But not today. … Um,  _ could _ we go to one of them today?”

Poe shrugged, “Anything is possible.”

“Well… where do you like to go usually?”

“I generally just fly around,” Poe said, glancing over at Finn with a smile. “We can actually see the City from the air, if you want. We can tour the surrounding landscapes a little. We have the entire afternoon ahead of us, so whatever you want to see, we can see it.”

“How much time does it take to get around the City?”

“Generally an hour at this speed,” Poe replied.

“And how long to get to the coast?” Finn asked.

“Another hour,” Poe said, grinning when he got the idea. “And it is gorgeous to see the water from up here.”

“I bet it is,” Finn said, blushing as he turned from Poe. He hadn’t meant the coast or the water.

Poe saw Finn turn away, a shy smile on the cellist’s face and smiled despite himself, chewing his bottom lip as he returned his gaze to the front window of his baby.

After three hours up in the plane, talking about whatever came through their minds, they returned to the airfield.

Finn realized he had yet to make his confession.

“It’s still early but… I’m hungry. Want to join me for dinner?” he asked as they walked back to Poe’s car.

“Well, I am the one driving you home,” Poe replied with a wolfish grin, “We can  _ totally  _ make a detour.”

Finn gave him a brilliant smile as Poe opened the passenger door for him.

They found a small out of the way pub closer to Poe’s building than Finn’s, but it was one of Poe’s favorites and it was cozy.

After ordering food, Finn was at a loss as what to say. He wanted to come right out and say it: tell Poe that he might have fallen head over heels in love with him over the past few weeks since starting at the City Quartet.

But something was holding him back. Poe and he talked about everything, from the way the sun shone on the water on their flight to and from the coast, to stories of their glory days at the Academy. Poe talked about the band he had been in high school, how he had started on violin, then switched to viola, then guitar and vocals, and then again back to viola. Finn talked about wanting to learn the bass guitar, that his foster father had put a cello in his hands instead, and how he had wound up loving it more than he would anything else. How he would stay up late composing songs to his crushes, to his foster sisters, to his foster-mother. 

Poe was so amiable and friendly, and Finn  _ worried _ . He worried that their dynamic would change, that Poe would hate him, would feel awkward around him. He did want that. He wanted Finn-Rey-Poe, not Finn-Rey and Rey-Poe. He wanted Finn-Poe, but not at the cost it would take or take away if Poe didn’t feel the same way, which at this point Finn saw Poe might not more than he might.

So he stayed quiet, and Poe was kept in the dark about Finn’s true feelings even as he dropped the cellist off at Finn’s apartment building, Finn waving to the violist as he dashed up the steps and buzzed into his building.

\--

Poe thought back on the day, as he often did. Baby was curled in his arms at the moment, Poe curled around her, shirtless on his white sheets under the duvet.

Why had he just taken _ Finn _ up in his plane? Why hadn’t he waited for next week, then he could take both of his… friends? It couldn’t have been pride, it couldn’t be that he just had to show off to someone new about his interesting hobby. And dinner! That had been quite an intimate affair, just Finn and him, getting cozy in a pub Poe often met his  _ one night stands _ .

Poe sat up suddenly, throwing Baby off the bed. She hissed at him, but turned her body, putting her tail into the air and walking off, out of the bedroom to the living room, where there was an armchair that she had taken for her own.

Poe ignored her, dropping his head into his hands.

Finn wasn’t…

… Wasn’t one of  _ them _ . One of those pretty people that Poe found , had chatted up in bars, or in that pub, and had taken home for a quick fling. He was special, and smart, and funny, and  _ beautiful _ . He was someone you didn’t sleep with once and forget. He was unforgettable. Worthy of a long-term relationship. Of marriage, someday. Of cutesy nicknames, of breakfasts in bed, of long cuddles and sweet nothings, especially anytime before, during, and after making love. Not having sex:  _ making love _ .

Poe dragged his hands down his face, turning to the wide bay windows that were covered in gossamer drapes that let the City’s light come in faintly.

_ I am an idiot. _

And Finn didn’t feel the same way. Probably not. Probably wanted Rey more than Poe. He  _ should _ , at least. Poe would just figure things out too late.

\--

Finn composed all night, headphones on as he tinkered on his dusty keyboard, something that he hadn’t used in a while. On the computer screen in front of him, the song was translated into notes and rests, tempos and beats. It was a sad, melancholy,  _ lost _ melody: exactly how Finn felt.

He would wind up giving the sheet music to Rey the next morning, a fake smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about planes. Everything I remember about them I got from the fabulous radio show "Cabin Pressure."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the obvious filler chapter, guys.

It was partly loneliness, and partly his several conversations with multiple people about his mother, mainly Rey’s, though after storming off from his father Kylo Ren had seriously thought about visiting her and spending some alone time with her for a long time after. Thursday seemed like the perfect time: Han and Chewie were spending the day together taking care of Chewie’s twin boys while Maz took a much needed day off with her girls. So Leia was alone at the Solo-Organa family ranch just outside the City. 

The house had been in the family for generations, and there was still a whole staff that operated the ranch parts. They were independent of the Solo-Organa family, who just lived on the property and paid the farmers rent. The rest of the facilities were were fully functional, but the farmers had separate homes to go to at the end of the day.

Kylo Ren gazed at his family home for a few awkward moments, listening to the sounds of cows mooing and the distant roar of a tractor somewhere in the distance. Finally, he let go of the door of his little Ford Focus and went up the white steps of the large wrap-around porch. 

It felt weird to ring the doorbell of his own home.

Kylo almost turned and ran down the driveway in the time it took his mother to open the door. She must have been reading, or watching the news in the family room. She spent most of her free time either at the offices of the performance building, or in the family room with Han, or entertaining guests. That much Kylo remembered.

She stood in the doorway, gazing up at her son. Her eyes were shining as she took a good long look at him.

“Hi… Mom.”

Leia breathed out a sigh of relief, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close. He mirrored her after a while. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

She pulled away from him, appraising him for a moment before she pulled him inside.

He looked around as she led him to the kitchen, where she gestured for him to sit at the counter that separated the big kitchen from the dining room. Kylo tried not to tear up as he remembered all the times he would sit at the counter and color, or, in middle school, do his homework while his mother cooked dinner and his father read the newspaper next to him. He sat down on one of the worn wooden stools and watched as his mother puttered around the kitchen making tea. She was pretty short, so everything she needed was on the lower shelves, and only things like liquor and junk food was on the top shelves, where only Han could reach. Kylo smiled despite himself.

“How are you, Kylo?” Leia asked.

That’s what was great about his mom. She was good at remembering her son’s preferences. Like his name.

Kylo gazed softly at her, “I’m good. Getting better.”

She smiled, “That’s good.”

And she didn’t ask invasive questions, either.

“I wanted to… to come home,” Kylo said slowly. “I wanted to apologize. I took middle school way too far… and I took Granddad’s attention and teaching too seriously.”

Leia was waiting for the water to boil in the kettle, the oven/stove combination being right against the counter in the middle of the room, facing the dining room beyond. She watched her son as he fumbled for words and tried to get his thoughts across. She was a patient woman in her older age. In her youth she had been a hot blooded musician, a violist. But as she grew older, she stopped playing, and started managing, keeping musicians in employment. She started at the Opera (where she met her husband, then a technician working the lights), and then moved to the Quartet when her father pleaded with her to. 

She had never known her real father Anakin, had been adopted by Opera aficionados when she was quite small. Her father had reached out, though, to both she and her twin brother (also adopted by the Organas) when they were at the Music Academy: Padme had just died, and Anakin wanted something to hold on to.

She had always been wary of her birth father. Luke even more so. But she had allowed her father to meet her husband and her son, had allowed him to influence her family. Anakin needed family, and deserved to spend time with his daughter and grand-son.

It had pained her when Ben had moved in with Anakin when he was 14, after spending two years training vigilantly in violin. It was Anakin who had introduced newly christened Kylo Ren to Professor Snoke, who would train Kylo when Anakin couldn’t. Leia watched all of this unfold, had even needed to leave the City for a long while. So long, in fact, that she had to be replaced at the Opera, and was out of a job when she felt well enough to return to the City.

“You’re getting better,” she said. It was more of a question.

Kylo nodded. “I… I just wanted to see you. I… I hurt you most of all.”

Leia smiled. “You’re apology is accepted, Kylo. Is there anything you need?”

Kylo thought for a moment. “A cup of tea? To hang out with my mother?”

She smiled sadly. “Well, I can provide that for now. But… for your future?”

Kylo looked down at his hands as they fidgeted in his lap. His mother gazed at him with a pained expression before the whistle of the kettle moved her to action.

When the tea was poured, they moved to the living room, where Leia sat in an old red armchair, and he sat on the couch. He remembered when that couch had been a pirate ship and smiled into his tea. He remembered something Rey had told him.

“Thank you,” he said.

Leia had been studying him for a long while, letting the steam rise from her tea mug on the coffee table in front of her. “For what, my dear?”

“For saving the Quartet,” Kylo replied, looking up at her and searching her face. “You didn’t have to… I mean, you lost your job and everything, but still. You didn’t have to take over the Quartet when Granddad left...”

“Well,” Leia said, “Old Ben Kenobi was more than capable of taking over for me at the Opera. And… you were the most happy when you were playing the violin for the Quartet. I couldn’t just let the Quartet go to someone who didn’t have your best interests at heart. And I needed the job, remember.”

Kylo ducked his head, smiling despite himself. “I’m such a brat, though.”

Leia said nothing, didn’t even nod her head.

He looked up at her, his gaze steadying. “I missed you.”

Leia sniffed slightly, her eyes wet. “I bet I missed you more.”

\--

Kylo wasn’t sure why he went to YouTube that night. Actually, he did. Chester had given him a link to the Quartet’s video page, and Kylo wanted to check something.

All of the City Quartet performance were put up on their page, so Kylo clicked on one from before his mother took over, when Anakin was director, and they did only classical pieces.

As he watched the performance, and noted Hux, Kanata, Dameron and himself, he wondered if things really were better. While the classical music they played was beautiful, and the four of them had played well together, change could always bring something new, something better. Kylo paused the video, and looked for a more recent video. Last week’s performances were already up, so he pressed play on Saturday’s performance, as it was first up in his queue for some odd reason.

As he listened, he leaned back in his desk chair, closing his eyes and letting the music wash over him. No matter what they played, it all was beautiful: the classic Beethoven and Bach, and the Russian classics. But there was also the new arrangements. With his eyes closed, Kylo could appreciate Finn, Rey, and Poe’s great work. He smiled when he remembered that they were practicing a few Green Day songs, as well as a Panic! At the Disco song. Finn was really thinking of the whole Quartet when he made these arrangements.

And they truly were incredible pieces of work.

He opened his eyes, and saw the smiles on his fellow musicians’ faces as they played both old and new songs. Then he looked at his own face, how peaceful it looked when playing any of the pieces.

He wished he could be that calm all the time. He wished he hadn’t pained his mother and father as much.

He wished Snoke and Anakin hadn’t played off of his fears and anger and insecurity.

He did another internet search as he listened to the rest of the last Saturday’s performance, and let it play into the Sunday one.

Then he took his cell phone from it’s place next to him and typed in a number found on the screen of his computer.

“Hello? Yes, I’d like to schedule a therapy appointment. I have some anger issues to work out…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, Kylo had to be redeemed at some point.
> 
> And now for your regularly scheduled StormPilot... Next chapter's gonna be a doozy, folks.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! Writer's block and other projects got in the way.
> 
> We're almost done here. And then... who knows?
> 
> Thanks for your patience, everyone!

“Hey Kylo, you coming?” Finn asked amiably.

It was Friday night, and Poe suggested that they all go out to Takodana’s for a late night drink after their performance, for no apparent reason.

Kylo shook his head, “I better not,” he said, but smiled. “I have a therapy appointment early tomorrow, and I don’t want to be hungover for it…”

“An appointment on a Saturday morning?” Poe asked, giving Kylo a rather dirty look.

Kylo shrugged, “Dr. Kalonia is a friend of my mom’s. She wanted to see me as soon as possible, and so penciled me in on a day she knew she would have free.”

Finn was smiling at Kylo, and clapped the second violinist on the arm, “Wow,though, good on you man. Next time?”

Rey and Poe glanced over at the two, Poe with a surprised smile and Rey with an indistinguishable expression.

“Yeah,” Kylo said with a nod. He looked for something on the other two members’ faces, but then returned his eyes to Finn, whose grin was infectious. Kylo’s chest swelled with something a little like pride.

“And…” Finn paused, “Hey, you want to help us get together the rest of Green Day’s American Idiot album? I know you were a fan of them back in the day.”

“Getting back into them, actually,” Kylo told him. “And yeah. Yeah… your second violin parts are a little lax.”

“Well… Rey figures out both sides most of the time,” Finn replied with a laugh.

Kylo laughed too looking to Rey who was biting her lip to keep from smiling, and Finn found himself wanting to hear Kylo’s laugh more often. Poe put his arms around Finn and Rey then, getting them to get out the door faster so they could get to Takodana’s for that drink.

“Later, Kylo!” Finn called over his shoulder.

Kylo waved, and then went over to his parents, giving them each a hug or a handshake before heading out.

Rey, Finn, and Poe walked with Chester, Han and Leia to Takodana, laughing and congratulating one another, as well as talking about Kylo Ren’s change of heart. 

Chester, Leia, and Han had a few drinks and then went home.

Rey, Poe, and Finn were just nursing their second drinks when Poe noticed someone over Rey’s shoulder and waved. “Jess! Jessika Pava!”

The woman in question was short, with black hair pulled back into a high bun. “Poe Dameron, how are you, man?”

Rey stared at her for the longest time. Finn was worried her open jaw would fall off.

Poe jumped up and hugged the woman close. “Been a while. How’s my favorite trombonist doing?”

“Not playing as often,” Jess replied. “I’m a commercial pilot now.”

Poe, still with his arm around the smaller woman, turned to his two coworkers. “Jess, meet Finn and Rey: they work with me at the Quartet.”

“Hello,” Jess replied with a grin. “Haven’t gotten to see you all since the new season started up. How do they compare to Hux and Kanata? That little woman could suplex boulders if she wanted to. And Hux? Well… I guess all the pretty ones can’t have winning personalities,” she laughed.

“Oh, we’re much better than them,” Rey spoke up, her voice hardly squeaking at all, except at the end.

“Finn has been putting together more modern compositions. You got a favorite song?” Poe supplied, laughter still in his eyes.

“Queen?” Jess asked, though her eyes were on Rey. “‘Somebody to Love.’”

“We’ve done that,” Finn replied. “And I couldn’t really do those pieces without the help of Rey and Poe. I’m just a cellist. I need help writing for viola and violin,” he smirked slightly, turning his gaze on the first violinist, “Rey does her own compositions, you know. She used to dance and play her violin at the Farmer’s Market…”

Rey hissed silently at Finn, who leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest triumphantly. Poe raised his eyebrows with a smile. Jess sat down next to Rey, ordering another round for them all.

Finn talked Rey up for the rest of their time together. Poe suggested Jess take Rey home, since Rey still didn’t have a car. When the girls left the bar, Finn realized he was finally alone with Poe.

And he was only slightly tipsy. So he ordered another drink.

Poe ordered water. If Finn wanted to get drunk--celebrate a little--Poe could be his designated driver. He usually took Finn home anyway, since Finn refused to get a car, even when he lived in the biggest city in the country.

They toasted their matchmaking skills, commenting on how low Jess’s hand had rested on Rey’s back when they were walking out of the bar.

\--

Poe realized that Finn getting drunk may have been a bad idea. Finn was a flirty drunk. A clingy, flirty drunk. And that was a bad combination.

Finn had dragged Poe by the hand from the bar to a cozy little booth in the corner. Poe loved the closeness he now had with Finn, but he didn’t want to take advantage of Finn, since he was pretty plastered by now. Poe had him drinking water, but that didn’t wipe the silly smile from Finn’s face as he wrapped his arms around Poe. Finn felt nice slotted under Poe, and Poe tried not to let all that blood go south. He tried to keep a clear head.

“You should take me home,” Finn said as one of his flirty pickup lines. He had been using a lot of them. A lot of the bad ones.

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

“Are your pants made of mirror, because I see myself in them.”

“I’d rearrange the alphabet so that U and I were together.”

Poe realized that Finn wasn’t flirting badly with anyone else in the bar. Just Poe. He had a feeling that meant something big, and it made Poe warm on the inside. But Finn was drunk. Too drunk.

“That’s a good idea,” Poe said in reply to Finn’s most recent pickup line.

Finn made a slight squealing noise, like he had won. Poe helped Finn out of the booth, and Finn wouldn’t let him let go. So they held hands on the way to Poe’s car, and Poe helped Finn into the back seat, where the cellist fell over and almost took the violist with him. He managed to pull their fingers apart so he could close the door and move to the driver’s side.

Finn giggled and sang softly to himself on the car ride to his apartment. It was hard to get him out of the car and up the steps to his apartment.

“Where are your keys, Finn?” Poe asked. Finn’s arm was slung over Poe’s shoulder.

Finn hummed, a smirk on his face, “Mmm. I’m not telling.”

“You should,” Poe replied as gently as he could. He was embarrassed for Finn, even though he had a feeling Finn wouldn’t remember anything of this night. At least he hoped Finn wouldn’t.

“You could just pat me down,” Finn giggled. “Like a cop.”

“Which pocket, Finn,” Poe said sternly.

“Come on, discover for yourself. You know you want to,” Finn’s eyebrows waggled lavishously.

And Poe did, but he wanted Finn to remember it the next morning. If he didn’t, that would make Poe feel very bad: like he had taken advantage of the younger man.

“All right,” Poe made to move Finn’s arm off his shoulder. “You can sleep on the porch. That’ll at least sober you up.”

“Noooooo…” Finn said, his voice pitching high. 

Poe laughed, “Fine,” he said, and chanced the pockets of Finn’s pants. When he found Finn’s keys, he opened the door and near-dragged the cellist into the building and into his apartment.

Finn clung to Poe as they walked over the threshold into the cellist’s living room. “Should have carried me like… like a bride, Dameron,” he giggled, and Poe couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“And why would I do that?” Poe inquired.

Finn blinked up at him. Poe turned on a few lights in Finn’s apartment, dragging the cellist to his bedroom and nearly throwing him on the bed.

“Mmm,” Finn replied instead, nuzzling into the down comforter.

“Sleep, Finn,” Poe said. “I’ll get you some water and some aspirin for tomorrow morning… And I’ll set your alarm so you actually wake up and get to our matinee performance in the afternoon…”

Finn suddenly grabbed Poe arm, “Wait, no. Don’t go, Poe…” he giggled, “That rhymed.”

Poe chuckled, “I have to, sweetie,” he said gently, trying to pry at Finn’s fingers. Damn Finn’s grip was  _ hard _ . “Darling, you’re hurting me. I actually need this arm.”

Finn’s grip slackened, but he didn’t let go of Poe’s arm. He looked up at Poe with the saddest puppy dog eyes he could, and Poe cursed inwardly.

“Please, Poe… I don’t wanna…” Finn slurred, his eyes drooping sleepily, “I don’t wanna be alone tonight.”

“Sweetheart,” Poe could hear his heart breaking. Not like this. He needed Finn to  _ remember _ . To  _ soberly consent. _

Finn shook his head to wake himself up again, “Just… just stay,” he said, half-heartedly pulling Poe onto the bed with him. “You don’t need to do… to do anything, Poe. Just… Just sleep with me.” He giggled, “I meant, sleep in the bed with me. I won’t… won’t try anything.”

Finn was muttering now, his head rolling into the pillow. He sounded sleepy and childlike now, though it seemed his drunken bravado was still present.

“Gentleman’s honor?” Poe asked with a slight grin, though his heart was pounding in his ears.

Finn giggled again, loud and shrill. “Yeah. Gentleman’s… whatever,” he said, putting up two fingers in a weird salute.

Poe took in a deep breath, sighing loudly. “All right. Scootch over then.”

\--

Finn woke up alone, the blinds drawn closed. Next to his bed was a couple of aspirin pills and a glass of water. The digital clock read 10:43am. Finn’s alarm went off two minutes later, but Finn’s eyes were now shut tight as he tried to remember the warmth of Poe’s body as Finn had clutched the violist’s back the night before.

He remembered everything.


	9. Chapter 9

Finn managed to clean up for the afternoon matinee. He drank plenty of water, brought his aspirin bottle with him, everything. He was going to call in sick, but he owed it to Rey, owed it to Kylo, and definitely owed it to Poe to be there that afternoon to play for their slowly growing fanbase. 

But he was terrified, and sad, and he didn’t think he could face Poe. He had showed too much of himself when he was drunk. He knew he was a flirty, clingy drunk, but he was only that way in varying degrees with people he knew. His friends back at the Academy knew him to only cling to them, while a girl he liked had gotten the full (and quite bad) Flirtatious Finn in all his punny and clingy glory.

So he knew how he was with Poe. But he had been hoping that Rey would come back, forgetting that Rey had gone home with Jessika Pava. And Finn didn’t blame his friend. Jess was a pretty girl, a smart and adventurous one. Perfect for Rey, who had grown up in the City, too poor to travel the world. Jess would be good for Rey, good  _ to _ Rey.

“What’s wrong Peanut?” The woman in question asked when Finn arrived to the concert hall. She had poked her head into his dressing room to see how his night had went.

Finn was going to put a layer of foundation on his face to help under the lights, and also to conceal the dark bags under his eyes.

“Don’t tell me you got drunk last night,” Rey continued, giving the cellist a tight-lipped glare. She took his make-up bag from him and opened it, digging in it for the foundation he kept in it. 

“We slept together last night.”

Rey began putting foundation under Finn’s eyes, but she paused, looking up into her friend’s, perfect eyebrows raising.

“Like, platonically,” Finn corrected. “I got drunk, and when I get drunk I get clingy, and often flirty around the current object of my affections,” he explained. “I asked him to stay the night with me. I… He did. But he left in the morning. I woke up alone, but cared for: aspirin, water, eggs and bacon. No note though. Not even a text this morning.”

Rey resumed her ministrations with the makeup sponge, “Oh, Finn…”

Finn put his hand to his lips, the bottom one trembling slightly. “I think… it might have been through pity that he even stayed in the bed with me. And now he’s embarrassed by it all. You were wrong: he doesn’t… he doesn’t have feelings for me.”

Rey put the sponge down on the table in front of them and slipped her arms around his waist. “No, Finn. There has to be an explanation. I’ll…” she pulled away from him. “I’ll go get Poe, we can talk this out…”

But Leia stuck her head in the dressing room door. “Five minutes, you two,” she looked Finn up and down, “You look terrible, darling. Something the matter?”

Finn shook his head, “Decided to do a little work on some new compositions last night and… well… got swept up in the music. I’ll just apply some more foundation.”

Leia paused, suspicious. But she shrugged a shoulder and disappeared from the doorway.

Rey and Finn exchanged glances before Finn picked up the make-up sponge and began dabbing his wet and darkened eyes.

\--

During the performance, it was not all as it seemed.

The concert ran smoothly, as usual. Kylo, though, seemed more in sync with the others, especially Finn and Rey. But Finn seemed off, and Rey kept giving him worried glances in between songs. The more upbeat songs didn’t seem as joyous as they usually were. Poe seemed indifferent, and so the sound of his viola followed it’s master’s whims, or lack-there-of. Each player seemed too thoughtful, working separately, rather than as a team.

Normal concerts went on for a solid forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on the setlist. There was no intermission between halves of the concert, so the players played on until the final song: a loud, raucous, yet beautiful rendition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” complete with stomping from the players, and clapping from the audience, started off by Rey and Poe. Kylo often refused to stomp and clap with his fellows, but he started today with them, instead of Finn, who just didn’t have it in him.

It was much the same for the evening performance, and frankly Rey was sick of Finn’s moping and Poe’s downcast eyes, him refusing to look at Finn or even her.

After most performances, the Quartet usually met in the green room with Leia, Han, Carl, and sometimes Chester, who worked lights and sound as well as advertising.

Rey grabbed the back of Poe’s suit jacket as Kylo and Finn went ahead to their final after-performance meeting of the day.

“What?” Poe asked, suddenly mirthful. “No need to thank me for introducing you to Jess last night. I know she’s not one to sleep over on the first night, but I saw her in the audience today, so I know she’s interested in you--”

“What. The  _ fuck _ . Is wrong with you, Dameron?” She hissed, glaring up at him.

His smile faded, “What…?”

“You  _ left _ him?” Rey asked lowly. “I swear to god, Dameron. You two have been dancing around each other since the beginning, and suddenly you’re too chicken to stay until he had least wakes up? You could have  _ confessed _ to him, you know.”

It finally dawned on Poe what Rey was talking about and he answered in kind, “He was drunk, Rey! He wouldn’t’ve remembered anything had I told him.”

“Well obviously he did,” Rey said, smiling dangerously, teeth bared. Poe shuddered in absolute terror: don’t mess with Mama Rey’s Finn cub… “He could recall everything from last night. Every word, every action… every inaction.”

Poe paled. “So he would have…”

Rey shoved at him, “And even if he wouldn’t have, you should have stayed, you absolute chicken shit!”

Poe’s eyes narrowed at her, and he took both of Rey’s hands in his to keep her from shoving him again. “Listen, Rey. Hindsight 20/20, okay? I didn’t know! So I left him as soon as he fell asleep. I left him with aspirin and water, even put out the eggs and bacon in his fridge to make sure he ate a good meal filled with protein!” He looked up at the ropes in the rafters, sighing loudly. “Oh god… I could have  _ told _ him! Kissed him good morning? He was so flirty with me, and no one else…” He dropped Rey’s hands.

“He does that with the people he has feelings for. Amorous feelings, at least,” Rey said, she herself calming down. 

Then she shoved him again.

“Ow! Calm down, you hell cat!” Poe hissed.

“Go tell him now!” Rey said, and grabbed his hand to drag him to the green room.

Everyone was lounging around the room, Leia and Finn sitting on an old red couch, Han sitting in an armchair, Kylo on a wooden chair putting away his violin, and Carl chatting excitedly to Chester near a shiny metal sink in an counter-topped corner.

“GO!” Rey shouted, pulling Poe into the room and then pushing the violist toward Finn. “Tell him right the fuck now, Poe Dameron.”

Poe froze. Seven sets of eyes were on him now. He couldn’t back down with everyone knowing he had something to say to either Leia or Finn situated on the couch in front of him. He could lie, say something to Leia instead, but for the pronouns Rey had used.

Poe looked at Finn, finally making his decision.

He took Finn’s hands in his, pulling him up. “Can I talk to you outside for a minute, Finn?”

The cellist looked to Leia, who smiled at him, nodding her head sagely.

Finn nodded, and followed Poe out into the hall.

\--

Poe thought carefully about his next moves as he lead Finn from the green room.

When they were a ways away from the others, he turned back to Finn and took up the other man’s hands in his again. “First, I want to say I’m sorry for leaving you this morning. I  _ want _ to say that I went home to take care of Baby, but really, I left because I was scared. I… didn’t know that you would remember everything from last night.  _ I _ usually don’t remember everything that happened while I’ve been plastered… And... I should have at least left a note.”

Finn allowed himself to cup his friend’s cheek, searching Poe’s eyes, “Thank you for the apology. I… I admit I was a bit confused as to why you weren’t still in bed beside me when I woke up. And thank you for the aspirin and water… and for putting out breakfast.”

Poe nodded. He still had things to say and Finn anticipated this.

“I was scared because… I noticed that you didn’t flirt with anyone else at the bar. You certainly clung to a few other people,” here Poe smiled down at Finn, biting his lower lip as he thought about what to say next. “You are… selective with who you flirt with while drunk?”

“And when I’m sober,” Finn added, looking away from Poe as he smiled despite himself.

Poe nodded, breath shuddering. “I… uh… gathered. I would have… said something when I knew, but like I’ve said, I thought you would forget everything. And when you’re drunk, you can’t really consent, so I couldn’t try anything myself without it being, um, technically assault.”

Finn grinned. “So…?”

Poe looked down at his companion, eyes traveling to his lips. Finn crooked his head, raising an eyebrow expectantly.  _ Evil little ray of sunshine _ , Poe thought, though his smile was fond, smitten even.

“I’m so gone for you Finn!” Poe finally managed. “Since practically day fucking one!”

Finn laughed aloud, “Good,” he said, throwing his arms around the violist. “I’m glad I’m not the only one.”

And he kissed him. And Poe kissed back.

“Fucking  _ finally _ ,” came a voice behind Poe. Both of the men pulled apart, still entangled in one another’s arms. Rey and Kylo had gone looking for them. Rey had her hands over her chest, smug. Kylo had put his hands in his pockets, grinning from ear to ear with… was that pride?

Finn giggled. Poe’s hands around him tightened at the sound. He himself chuckled.

“Can I take you home now, Mr. Duqar?” He asked breathily into the cellist’s ear.

Finn’s eyes flicked from Rey and Kylo to Poe’s face, searching it. Then he bit his lip, and nodded. “Of course, Mr. Dameron,” he said, “We have to make up for lost time, don’t we?” 

And the cellist’s low,  _ hungry _ tone and his smug smile went straight to Poe’s dick.

\--

They went to Finn’s: of course they went to Finn’s. Baby wouldn’t tolerate all the attention Poe was giving Finn as they nearly crashed into Finn’s bedroom, kissing each other and touching everywhere they could. Their jackets were left in the living room, their ties in the hallway. Poe already had his button up untucked and undone and was working on Finn’s, though he got distracted halfway through when Finn began licking and sucking at his exposed nipples.

“Finn… Finn, buddy,” he said, and took Finn’s face in his hands. “Slow down. We have all night. And, I hope, the rest of our lives.”

Finn’s breath stuttered as he searched Poe’s face, his eyes. “I want… so much.”

“I know,” Poe replied, smiling. “I made you wait a long time. I’m sorry. But we’ve got time now.”

Finn nodded, and Poe graced him with a tender kiss before continuing with his work on Finn’s buttondown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fucking finally.
> 
> Just the epilogue now, guys. Thanks for reading and giving kudos and commenting! Hope to see you all in future works!


	10. Epilogue

The sun woke Finn up the next morning. He must have forgotten to pull down his blinds… now why would he--?

There was movement next to him, and he smiled. Of course.

“You too?” Poe asked, curling his arms around Finn from his back.

Finn turned to face him and his smile turned even fonder, if that was even possible. “You rise with the sun?”

“Not if the drapes are drawn,” Poe replied, kissing Finn’s nose.

That action made Finn extreme happy… and extreme giggly. “Well,” he managed. “I might have forgotten to last night. I seem to remember you pushing me down on my back and pinning my hands above my head.”

“Yes, it is mostly my fault, isn’t it?” Poe asked, and softly slapped his own cheek. “Bad Poe,” he said in a high voice.

Finn laughed out loud, and kissed Poe’s mouth. He tried to make it a quick kiss, but Poe would have none of it. The violist put both his hands on Finn’s cheeks to hold him in place so that he could deepen the kiss, and even slip in his tongue.

They made out sloppily for a few minutes until Finn remembered something.

“What time is it?” He asked.

Poe was the one facing the alarm clock. “Oh, shit. Right. We have lunch with the others this morning.”

“Foiled by Leia wanting to thank us and celebrate her son coming home and all the rest of that mushy stuff…” Finn replied. “Actually, I like that mushy stuff. I just wanted some more private mushy stuff with you.”

Poe grinned at him, kissing his mouth quickly before moving out from under the covers. “Well, we can have some quick mushy times in the shower… and save water.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading!
> 
> Hope to see you in (my) future endeavors!

**Author's Note:**

> For this fic, you may want to listen to some music:  
> Vitamin String Quartet  
> Lindsey Stirling  
> Any string quartet of your choice (I've been listening/collecting music from the Emerson String Quartet and the Shostakovich Quartet).  
> You can start on Youtube, probably, or find some stuff on Spotify or even iTunes if you want to spend some money.  
> Happy music hunting!
> 
> Come stalk/follow me on Tumbr: petitminou-kun. I dare you.


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